Mother Dearest
by I-survived-life
Summary: Mother told me many things as I was growing up. She was always trying to make me believe that she cared for me. She always told me that I was worth more to her than any diadem. Mother lied. (c) to cynical @ tda for the amazing cover!


Just in case that you need it, I have included a list of words that were used and what they translate to in modern English (and I hope you enjoyed reading this one-shot!):

**Thou** - you  
**Thee** - you  
**Thy**- your  
**Thine**- your  
**Dost** - does  
**Fere** - friend  
**Art** - are  
**Ye** - polite form of you  
**Wit** - know  
**Hath** - has  
**Naught** - nothing

If I missed any, let me know!

* * *

Mother always told me that she loved me, she always told me that I was the only reason that she lived. Yes, mother told me a great many things. How much of it was true, I know not but because mother is mother I shall take a guess and say that most art all lies. It took me a very long time to learn that mother was a bad liar. I didn't have a problem with mother lying, I would just smile and nod and pretend that I believed everything that she said. But I could not sit here and smile and nod when she said to me:

"Helena, I love and care about thee more than I could ever love my diadem; thou knows this does thou not?"

I could not and would not sit there and listen to her lie to my face about how she loved me more than her precious diadem. Mother dost not love me more than she loves her diadem, she knew it and I knew it too. I didn't understand why she was feeding me this lie despite the fact that I knew the truth. It was impossible for my mother to love anyone more than she loved her diadem. She no longer cared for her feres as much as she used to —they knew it too— because they couldn't increase her intelligence.

The diadem was her pride and joy, it was never me —it might have been me at some time in my life but I have no recollection of it. Mother never knew that I listened in on her conversations whenever she crowed to her feres about how wonderful her diadem was but listen I did. Never once in my life had my mother boasted about me and how wonderful I was or about my achievements. Helga spoke about me more than my mother.

I could take the false love and smiles and the insincere compliments that I always got but I could not take this lie, I couldn't. This was the last straw and she needed to know it.

"Really, mother? Art ye certain about that or is it just another one of thine lies?" I asked her indifferently as I took a sip of my drink. Her reaction was exactly what I had expected: shock. I gave her a cold smile and returned to my drink.

"L-lies?" mother besought.

"Oh yes, indeed, lies dearest mother. Did thou really think I would believe all of the lies that ye fed me? I am not stupid mother, you cannot fool me. Be honest, ye have never loved me."

"Helena, please," my mother appeared to be on the verge of tears, if I didn't know any better I would think that mother was actually hurt by what I had said.

"No, mother," I said slamming down my goblet. The anger that I had been working so hard to hide burst out of me. I could no longer act calm and patient. "Dost not lie, thou wit it to be true!"

"That is enough Helena; I shall not have ye speak to me in such a way! I am thy mother, I demand respect," mother had gotten over her shock and hurt. She was positively furious with me. I had never spoken to her in such a way before, never told her anything like this. I suspect that mother always thought that I would be the good and obedient little girl who would do whatever she was told without question. Little did mother know that I was not that little girl anymore.

She stood there before me with her chest rising and falling rapidly. I took satisfaction in knowing that I had upset my mother.

"Thou shall have respect when thou earns it! I cannot respect someone who hath lied to me all my life!" I had risen to my feet as well and stood opposite my mother with my fists clenched at my sides. I looked into the face that looked so much like mine, the face that had taught me everything that I know, and felt naught but hatred.

"Dost thee think I do not know that thou see thyself as better than everyone else, above everyone because ye are cleverer than they are," I said taking a step towards the woman who had given birth to me.

My mother lifted her hand and I thought she would hit me but no, she simply turned away from me and blasted a hole through the wall. She turned back to me, eyes blazing and said, "I shall not be treated this way! I am Rowena Ravenclaw and thou shall not speak to me in this way. Until ye learn to respect those wiser than thee, thou shall be locked away in thy room."

The dismissal was clear, there would be no arguing, I was to do as I was told without question. Scowling, I left my mother to her thoughts and stormed up to my bedchamber. The door was immediately closed behind me and locked. I paced around my room for a long time, it was impossible for me to go to sleep. I wanted to do something to get back at my mother. But what could I do?

It was a long while before it finally came to me. The diadem.

Why hadn't I thought of it before, it was a brilliant idea. Take away the thing that mattered most to my mother and hide it, destroy it. Rid the world completely of it. Oh how mother would panic, she would tear apart the castle looking for her special crown and she would never be able to find it. No one would have the answer to where her diadem was and Rowena would never suspect her daughter of doing such a thing. After all, I couldn't possibly hate my mother so much.

But when to steal it? It had to be tonight, mother would lock herself away from everyone and would not leave her chambers no matter what was going on. If I chose any other time to steal her crown then the possibility of getting caught would be incredibly high. Mother was known for walking around the castle at night.

I would run with the diadem and hide in the woods. There was no place to hide it in the castle and even I there was it would still be found too easily. No, I would have to take the diadem and run, hide in the woods with it. How long would I hide away from my mother and her frantic searching, who knew, I could hide for however long I wanted.

With a plan in mind, I got ready to put it into action. I grabbed a cloak, took my wand with me and after waiting to make sure that everyone was asleep, I unlocked my door and snuck out. The castle was eerily quiet during the night. There would be no noise except for the sound of the occasional mouse. The torches put up in the hallways provided barely any light and cast frightening shadows on the wall.

I walked through my home with my wand tip lit until I came to the door of my mother's study. She was asleep not too far from where I was and any loud noises would wake her and bring her to me. I would need to be especially quiet. Looking left and then right, I checked to make sure that I was completely alone before pointing my wand at the lock on the door and muttering "Alohomora."

The door swung open and I stared straight ahead in shock. I had not expected my mother to have used such a simple spell on a room that was so precious to her. For someone who everyone claimed was the brightest witch to ever exist, mother really was quite daft.

I quietly made my way into the room, closing the door behind me and making my way over to my mother's table. She always kept the diadem on her right side in a box. I remember her putting it there after proudly telling me that someday I would be the owner of something so valuable. That day turned out to be today.

When I looked however, the box was not on the table, indeed it was nowhere in the room. I looked in any place that looked big enough to hide a box but found nothing. I almost slapped myself in the face for being so stupid. Of course mother wouldn't leave the diadem in her study. She was not that much of an idiot. She suspected that I would attempt to do something to her precious crown and had most liked taken it to her room.

I snuck out of my mother's study, locked it again and quietly made my way down to where she was sleeping. The door was open. Mother was probably thinking along the lines of needing to make a quick escape in case something happened. I walked around the chamber even slower than I had in her study, terrified that I would make a sound and get myself caught.

I was getting more confident after being halfway across the room without any incident when I put my foot down and the floor creaked. I froze as I was, where I was, not moving a muscle. My eyes were glued to my mother as she groaned and turned onto her other side in bed. She mumbled something that I didn't quite catch and went back to sleep.

I was still safe.

I moved to the side of mothers bed and felt under one pillow. There was nothing underneath it, I had to check the other pillow, and it didn't matter if my mother was sleeping on it, I need to check it. I tiptoed to the other side of the bed and gently, very gently, pushed my hand underneath the pillow and moved it around. My hand made contact with a small box. I gave a small gasp of excitement but immediately froze as I realised what I had just done.

I waited for mother to wake up and start firing off hexes in every direction. That never happened though, mother was still sleeping and my hand was still under the pillow. I couldn't just pull the box out, she would feel that something was missing and wake up, most likely reach out and grab me by the arm. My eyes landed on what appeared to be a small pillow on the floor.

Very slowly, I bent down, picked up the pillow and slid it under my mother's head and next to the box. Little by little I began to move the box containing the diadem out and push the pillow in its place. Every time my mother so much as twitched I would stop moving and hold my breath until she relaxed again. It took forever but it was working and I was not about to rush myself and do something wrong.

It seemed like ages when I finally got the box out. I had it, I had the diadem, it was sitting in my hand, and it was mine. I could not believe that this was actually happening. I was going to get out of this castle with the diadem and I was not going to get caught. I would be even more famous than my mother; I would be the brightest witch to ever exist. Not my mother, no my mother would be known as the woman who was robbed by her daughter.

Life would be wonderful, so much better than what it was now, I was sure of it. Things could not get much worse than hell, could they?

With one last smile to my mother, I slowly made my way out of my mothers bedchambers, closed the door behind me and made my way to the castle doors on the first floor. I waited down near the doors, hidden from anybody that was passing and waited for morning to come. I waited to hear the scream that would come from my mother and would echo throughout the castle. I would wait for that shriek of absolute terror.

What would mother tell everyone once she couldn't find the diadem? Would she tell them that she had lost it? That someone had stolen it? Knowing mother, she would most likely act like she had the diadem but she couldn't take it out because it was too delicate.

I had almost drifted off to sleep when I heard it, the scream. It was a blood curdling scream, the hairs on me back of my neck were standing up and there were goosebumps all up and down my arms. I had been waiting for this moment. The scream was the loudest thing I had ever heard in my life and even after it had stopped I could still hear it. The ringing sound that was in my head would not go away for a while.

I slipped out of the castle without being seen or heard and made my way across the grounds and through the gates with no trouble at all. After all, who would suspect innocent and obedient Helena to commit such a crime. Another scream pierced the air causing me to turn around and glance up at the castle. My room seemed to be brighter than any other in the castle at the moment.

She had discovered that I was gone. I would have to move quickly or else I would get caught and that was not an option. It did not matter if I was cold or hungry, it did not matter if I had a long ways to go, it was all worth it. I had what I wanted and what I would ever need, I could work through the rest.

Take a look everyone; take a look at what had become of your mighty Rowena Ravenclaw.


End file.
